The caption for this image by NC Wyeth that accompanies the tale of Robinson Crusoe by Daniel Defoe reads: 'All this while I sat upon the ground very much terrified and dejected. Robinson Crusoe is a novel written by the English novelist Daniel Defoe and published in 1719. A fictional autobiography, it tells the tale of an English castaway named Robinson Crusoe (seen here sitting dejected) who spent 28 years on a remote tropical island near Venezuela before he was rescued. Newell Convers Wyeth, known as N. C. Wyeth, was an American artist and illustrator. He was the pupil of artist Howard Pyle and became one of America's greatest illustrators.